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The Erna long-range reconaissance group (Template:Lang-et) was a Finnish Army's formation, largely of Estonian volunteers, that fulfilled reconaissance duties in Estonia but became notorious for its ability to hold back the superior in numbers NKVD Destruction Battalions, allowing thousands of civilians to escape.

The group's task was to perform reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines for the Finnish Army, but it turned to saving thousands of civilians hiding in the Kautla woods by allowing them to escape while the outnumbered Erna force engaged Soviet NKVD Destruction Battalions in fierce battles in the summer of 1941 . The majority of the unit were killed in this action.

The group was originally formed from volunteer Estonian veterans of the Winter War in Finland. Armed and wearing the uniform of the Finnish army, the Germans originally intended it to be a unit of the German army. However, colonel of Estonian Army Henn Ants Kurg, in charge of the newly formed unit, strongly opposed this position. Accordingly, a compromise was reached, and on July 24, 1941, the core unit of 68 men took an oath of allegiance to Finland, not to Adolf Hitler as the Oberleutnant Reinhardt and Sonderführer Schwarz, German liaison officers, had originally insisted.

The group was active from the summer of 1941 until the end of World War II on Estonian territory and in Leningrad Oblast. The group operated behind Soviet lines until August 6, 1941.

With the end of the war, the group was officially demobilised; however, a number of fractions continued guerrilla activities, becoming Forest Brothers (Baltic partisans). (In interests of clarity, it should be pointed out that veterans of the Erna group were only a small fraction of the whole Forest Brothers resistance movement.)

Soviet historigraphy

Soviets considered the group hostile to Soviet interests, and soviet historigraphy denounced it -- just like the Forest Brothers -- as "bandits". Russian Federation has continued on this line.

References

1. p16, Mart Laar: War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944-1953. Howells House, 1991, ISBN 0929590082
2. C. Jurando, N Thomas PhD: Germany's Eastern Front Allies(2): Baltic Force, page 5. Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1841761931
3. ^ Jõgi, Ülo. "Birth of the ERNA-organization and its operations in 1941". ERNA Society. Retrieved 2007-08-10.
4. p147, Mart Laar: War in the Woods: Estonia's Struggle for Survival, 1944-1953. Howells House, 1991, ISBN 0929590082

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